Opinions please - Homework in Reception. Dd's teacher has asked to see me - tell me what to say to stop me being rude to her!

[Littlefish]

First of all, I am an experienced Early Years and Primary Teacher. Dd is my only child and is just reaching the end of Reception.

I have tried very, very, very hard to remove my professional hat in all matters relating to dd's teacher and Reception year, in spite of there being numerous occasions of poor practice. The children are basically being taught like year 1s, with very little play.

However, the matter of homework has really got me vexed.

I absolutely disagree with homework for Reception children (actually I disagree with homework for any children until year 6), beyond reading and phonics work. I read with dd every night and we practise her sounds and tricky words.

Last term, she started bringing home a photocopied maths worksheet each week which we were supposed to do with our child and then return to school. The homework is unrelated to anything they're specifically doing that week, and the same homework is given to all children, regardless of their stage of development.

Sometimes we do this sheet, and sometimes we don't. Dd is really strong with numbers, problem solving and reasoning, can recognise, write and sequence numbers up to 100, knows all her doubles up to 12 + 12 and all her number bonds up to 10 etc (Sorry, I'm not trying to be smug, that's just what she can do). The homework is frequently much too easy for her e.g. count a group of up to 10 objects and write the number.

We haven't done the homework for the last 3 as it was all too easy. I sent a note to dd's teacher explaining why we hadn't done it and she has asked to see me.

Added to this, the children were told that their homework was their responsibility and that if they did not do it, they would be moved down on the zone board (behaviour board).

I'm already heavily biting my tongue on all the other issues, and I'm really worried that I will be rude to her! She is a very brusque character, not parent friendly at all. At dd's last parents evening, she told me that dd "isn't pushing herself in writing"

FFS! She's only 5!

Is it worth voicing my objections to the homework, or should I just shut up and let her tell me off, for the sake of the last 4 weeks of term.

Blimey - I really should proof read. Please ignore all the mistakes!!!

What did you do as a teacher for children with abilities similar to your daughter's?

Fwiw, think it is a mistake to tell/show your dd that she doesn't have to do the homework assigned. If it is very easy for her, it won't take long at all. The point is, imo, for children to learn to comply, to take direction, to be responsible, and to learn to be part of a group.

Homework like that for a 5 year old is just wrong.

I wouldn't bite your tongue tbh.

Ok - am unclear.

Are you vexed because there is homework assigned to young children, or because the homework assigned is far too easy for your dd's abilities?

Earlybird - I do sort of agree with you. I'm very clear about dd being in the correct uniform, book bag, reading done etc. I support the school as much as I can, by hearing readers, leading the choir, helping at school fairs etc. It's just that I disagree so fundamentally with homework for young children.

It isn't a statutory requirement according to the Early Years Foundation Stage or National Curriculum.

I realise that it is the teacher's choice to give homework, but if there has to be homework, and that is the school policy, then it should at least be appropriate for the children in the class, and should follow the principles of the EYFS.

Does that make it any clearer, or am I just talking rubbish

Fab - thank you for your comment.

Earlybird - If I am working in a school which insists on homework in Reception, I ask children to do cooking, or go on a walk and count how many ladybirds they can find, or take containers into the bath, and work out how many cupfulls will fit into a large container etc.

At no point do I make it compulsory, threaten children with a sanction if they don't do it, put pressure on parents etc. etc.

I understand what you are saying, and I see your point.

I think I would be more inclined to object/have a conversation if the homework was difficult/onerous, and was taking a significant amount of time.

How long does it take your dd to complete? You say it is easy for her, so presumably it doesn't take long. Is it worth making it an issue?

In your shoes, I might be inclined to save my 'airtime' for something 'bigger', iyswim.

Littlefish - I'm sure your assessment of the general quality of the education is correct.

In your position, regarding the maths homework that was too easy - I would have got DD to do it quickly just so that it was done. I am not a teacher, my eldest is about to start reception. I am actually shocked that you have allowed your DD not to do the homework (would think differently if it was far too difficult and would upset her etc) because I think it is important for children to have respect for the teacher and the work that the teacher has asked the teacher to do. You may consider this particular teacher not to be up to scratch, but as a teacher, she must be respected by your 5yo so that she will continue to respect all teachers as she goes up through the school. It seems like the wrong message to give a child - that it is OK to not do homework if they consider it easy.

Thank you for your thoughts Earlybird. It helps to talk it through with someone not connected to the school . I need to give it a bit more thought.

Perhaps I'll wait until dd has left Reception and then go and speak to the Head (who is lovely, but lacking in knowledge about Foundation Stage), and share my wider concerns about the lack of appropriate provision generally.

Dd's teacher is 60 and will retire relatively soon I think, but she's been in Reception for many, many years and really needs to have her training updated.

think you are p[perfectly titled to be rude!

(Well, not rude but to tell her exactly what you think of her teaching methods)

Your DD may only have 4 weeks of term left, but there are other children coming next year, who so don't need to be subjected to this.

Teh one lever homework makes me very cross...it was always too easy for DS1, and always too hard for DS2...I mean, what is the point?

I'm so my typing went haywire.

Thank you qk. It's only in recent weeks that the teacher has started to comment on the fact that the homework is sometimes done, and sometimes not. I had assumed (obviously wrongly), that the homework was not compulsory.

I do get your point, but I think that the teacher has a professional responsibility to both communicate her requirements more clearly, and to ensure that any work set is appropriate.

It is a responsibility which I take extremely seriously myself, and I suppose I'm just irked that my dd's teacher doesn't have the same attitude.

E.g. I currently teach year 2. Our school policy is to provide homework each week. I therefore prepare three different levels of homework, relevant to whatever we're doing at the time, and give out the different levels to match as closely as possible the different stages of the children. I also stress to parents that the homework is there if they wish to support that piece of learning, but that it is not compulsory.

Maybe I'm just expecting too much of dd's teacher.

LynetteScavo - that's how I feel too.

I don't think you are expecting too much. It would be reasonable to have a word about different levels of homework. I just think that once you have got to the stage where a 5yo has been asked to do the homework, then the 5yo should do it.

Perhaps when you see the teacher, you should say that you were not aware that the homework was compulsory and since you did not consider that the level was appropriate for your DD, you took the option of not doing it because you did think it was an optional.

qk - thanks for your thoughts. It's really hard though - I just disagree with the whole homework thing!

However, I'm know I'm not going to change her mind about it, but I might just get her to see that simply giving a photocopied sheet (straight from a book) to every child, is really not appropriate for Reception children.

Littlefish - if you disagree so strongly with children under Y6 being given homework why do you give homework for Y2?

Explian to the teacher that you knew homeowrk wasnt compulsary for reception and therefore you only do it when dd isn't tierd etc. I do think it is a little much to go in and see her - why not leave things until next year with a new teacher - espically if you feel you may be rude.

I disagree with homework for the very small too - I said so on the questionnaire that came home from school, but I think a lot of the other parents are keen so there will still be some.

I think there should be plenty of time in the school day for learning stuff, and when they get home they should be able to relax with their families, maybe do a bit of reading.

We have the "same maths targets for the whole class" thing as well. Surely it can't be too tricky to realise that some children can already count to 100 in 2s or whatever, and so setting it as a target is relatively pointless?

I'm a secondary teacher and reception parent.

I think moving the children down the behaviour list for not doing this homework is unfair.

rainbow I think Litlefish gives homework as it is school policy not because she wants to..
Littlefish I work with a teacher like the one you descibed (am a Ta) and that is hard.

"If I am working in a school which insists on homework in Reception, I ask children to do cooking, or go on a walk and count how many ladybirds they can find, or take containers into the bath, and work out how many cupfulls will fit into a large container etc."
I get where you are with the hw in YR - I agree. I just had to say, this made me laugh - it is exactly the sort of hw that has me gritting my teeth and smiling while agreeing to bake something, run a bath etc instead of a nice easy bit of colouring on a sheet!
As you were!

Because she has to adhere to school policy, I expect.

Same as me

My class are Y5, and I make all their homework finding things out, learning tables, reading, etc. Anything to avoid death by worksheet which either a)the parent will complete, giving their child oodles of help or b) the parent won't have anything to do with, leaving the child to flounder by themselves. Add that to three levels of difficulty and you've got yourself a real nightmare for differentiation.

Littlefish, I would probably say the same as you - my ds is about to start Reception, so I have all this to come! I do know that children in Y6 at his school were sent home with 3 sets of past papers to complete under timed conditions during the Easter holidays; if SATs still exist by then there's no way my son will be doing that.

"The point is, imo, for children to learn to comply, to take direction, to be responsible, and to learn to be part of a group. "

This just makes me feel so . Is it really so important to get children to blindly do what people in authority tell them without questioning it, with the risk that they get so bored and fed up of crappy homework that they begin to hate learning?

Seriously, this is what happens to children for whom the level of work is either too hard or too easy. They get fed up, muck about, get labelled a troublemaker, and then find they've left school and wasted a whole load of time and potential.

I think you are acting very sensibly OP. Teaching like this in reception year is guaranteed to result in at least a few children who have learnt to hate learning before they've even started the compulsory bit! I'm totally at her 'behaviour board' particularly for use for children who don't do their homework. They're so young! They should be spending the few hours they have outside of school running around in the garden, learning science from making mudpies, and maths from seeing how many times they can skip a rope without falling over, not wasting their lives filling in pointless pieces of paper - lazy and dangerous teaching IMO!

Ok so am I missing something here - could littlefish's teacher be sending homework as it's school policy.

Therefore not the teacher's fault that homework is coming home.

And if homework is coming home then the fact that at the end of the day (and we are talking once a week here) that the op's dd has to use very little brain power to do the worksheet, just do the worksheet in less than 5 minutes, stick it back in bookbag, teacher has met policy, dd is not being taught that it's her choice whether homework is completed or not.

Now if it was taking you an hour to do, your dc was getting stressed as it was something that she'd never encountered and didn't know how to do it, that's the time to turn round and say look this hw is down right pointless and is upsetting my family life please set appropriate hw.

I doubt it's school policy to punish Reception children for non-completion though.